title: A microreactor and imaging platform for studying chemical oscillators.
abstract: We present a laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) and continuous flow microreactor (CFMR)-based platform to study the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) oscillators. We demonstrated that the scanning laser light below a certain power had no detectable influence on the BZ reaction. The CFMR consisted of the poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) microwell and the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microchannel and maintained the oscillation with a continuous supply of the catalyst-free BZ mixture. The synchronization of the two nonidentical oscillators was studied by the platform. The coupling intensity was controlled by changing the distance between the two oscillators. Results showed that the synchronization occurred as the oscillators were closer than a critical distance. The transition from desynchronization to synchronization was observed when the distance between the oscillators was near a critical value. The results of the numerical simulation by COMSOL agreed qualitatively with the experimental observation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Dameng
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Yuefang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zheng
mesh_terms: D000180:Acrylic Resins / Q000737:chemistry*; D002384:Catalysis; D004129:Dimethylpolysiloxanes; D005453:Fluorescence; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D005782:Gels; D008027:Light; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D057054:Molecular Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D009991:Oscillometry / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D019904:Polymethyl Methacrylate
chemical_list: D000180:Acrylic Resins; D004129:Dimethylpolysiloxanes; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D005782:Gels; C052970:poly-N-isopropylacrylamide; C013830:baysilon; D019904:Polymethyl Methacrylate